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Asia quake tidal waves kill over 10,000

PADANGSIDEMPUAN, Indonesia, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- An earthquake hit southern Asia Sunday, killing more than 10,000 people in massive tidal waves, the BBC reported.

The 8.9 magnitude quake struck under the sea near Aceh in north Indonesia, generating a 30-foot-tall wall of water that sped across thousands of miles of sea and washed away entire villages. More than 4,100 died in Indonesia, 3,500 in Sri Lanka and 2,000 in India. Additional casualties were reported from Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives, Sky News reported.

In Sri Lanka, where a state of emergency has been declared, more than 200 prisoners escaped when the huge waves swept away a high security prison in Matara, CNN reported.

The quake was the strongest in 40 years and the fifth most powerful since 1900.

The European Union has sent $4 million in aid to the region.

Geophysicist Don Blakeman with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center said the earthquake was classified as "great" -- the strongest possible classification -- and all of the tidal waves were triggered by the initial quake, and not the nine aftershocks, CNN reported.

Ukraine opposition claims victory

KIEV, Ukraine, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Ukraine opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has claimed victory in the re-do of the country's presidential run-off, as early results gave him a strong lead.

With more than half the votes counted, Ukraine's election commission gave Yushchenko a 16.8 percent lead over Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the BBC reported. However, officials expected the figure to change before counting concluded. Exit polls predicted a 15-20 point lead for Yushchenko.

November's original vote, which gave victory to Yanukovych, was annulled by the Supreme Court after strong allegations of fraud.

Sunday's vote was observed by about 12,000 foreign monitors.

Yushchenko told reporters: "I want to say this is a victory of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian nation. We were independent for 14 years, today we became free. Today, in Ukraine, a new political year has begun. This is the beginning of a new epoch, the beginning of a new great democracy."

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters, in their distinctive orange colors, gathered to celebrate in Kiev's Independence Square Sunday night. They celebrated the anticipated victory with a concert and a fireworks display.

Report: Moles helped Mosul bomber

MOSUL, Iraq, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Iraqi militants Sunday released a video of preparations for the suicide bombing of a U.S. military mess tent last week that left 22 dead.

The video appeared on the Web site of Ansar al-Sunna, the militant group that claimed responsibility for the deadly blast in Mosul and which wants to install a Taliban-like regime in Iraq.

The video was stamped with last Monday's date and shows three individuals dressed in black and wearing face masks describing a plan to blow up the mess tent, the BBC reported. The tape said the bomber would break into the base during the changing of the guard.

"He will storm the dining room where the crusaders and their (Iraqi) allies are gathered," one of the three said before embracing the apparent bomber, who was wearing a vest loaded with explosives.

The authenticity of the video was not immediately verified, the BBC said.

The Times of London reported the suicide bomber had help from sympathizers who infiltrated Iraqi forces.

The Times, quoting sources close to Ansa al-Sunna said the bombing had been in the planning stages for a month.

"The aim was to kill as many Americans as possible," the Times quoted a source as saying.

Settlers protest withdrawal, enemy attacks

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Hundreds of Gaza Strip settlers, some carrying fins of mortars and rockets that hit their areas, Sunday demonstrated outside the Israeli Defense Ministry.

The settlers, many of them children, demanded sterner military action against the attacks.

The government wants to evacuate the Gaza Strip settlers in the second half of 2005 but the settlers oppose those plans and Sunday carried placards demanding: "Let the army win." In fact the army carried out several raids into Khan Younes, killed militants and destroyed houses in the areas from which bombs were fired, but when soldiers left the shooting resumed.

Demonstrators blocked the major Kaplan Road on the southern side of the army's general headquarters camp that includes the Defense Ministry, and burnt tires on David Hameleh (King David) Boulevard on its northern side. Police detained 12 demonstrators and released all but three girls who would not identify themselves.